Tiny tweaks that will make your business blog better

For experienced bloggers this is basic information.  For those starting out, or looking to retool their business blog to get more readers or keep their attention, see if you need to make any of the tweaks below.

I’m working with a couple of blogs now (thanks guys!), and besides the big stuff (content that connects with your customer! frequent posting!), here are some little things you should do to make your blog better.   I had an old colleague who used to call this stuff “block and tackling” tactics — it won’t win you a million readers, but it will help people find and share your content.

Since I work in WordPress, several of the below mention WordPress plugins.

1. Make sure your readers can share every post

If your reader gets to the end of the post and can’t share it, you’ve just lost out on potential new readers.  Every single post should at least have the option to Tweet, share on Facebook, or e-mail to a friend.

The plugin I’ve been using is called “Share and Follow” by Andy Killen.  This gives me share buttons at the end of each post, as well as general buttons like “follow my RSS feed” and “follow me on Twitter” that stay constant in the sidebar.  You can choose from a variety of buttons and button sizes, and I think there’s even options for you to use your own button graphics if you have them.

2. If you have {0 comments}, change it to “Leave a comment”

It just looks better.  Your blog is supposed to position you as an industry leader. If someone glances through your blog and keeps seeing “0 comments” everywhere, you might lose credibility in their eyes.  You’re not doomed if you don’t get a lot of comments; in many cases, low-comment blogs are actually successful and generate sales (see the case study of Aprilaire). Simply changing “0 comments” to “Leave a comment,” or “Tell me what you think!” helps avoid that negative impression.

I use the Thesis theme which I really like so far, both for the ease of use and for all the resources on its Web site by both staff and users.   This link tells you how to to make the change, which can be done in any WordPress theme.  I watched a video tutorial on the DIYThemes site to learn how to change the CSS, which you need to know to change the comments feature.

3. Give people a number of ways to contact you

In your sidebar, you NEED to have a way for people subscribe to your blog, either by RSS or by email.   If you’re unfamiliar with RSS, do you recognize this button?

When people subscribe to your blog via RSS, it means that they get the content from your blog directly into an online reader or into a section of their Yahoo or Google homepage.

If you don’t use RSS, though, you’re not alone.  A report by Hubspot.com found that business blogs averaged 12 times more subscribers by email vs. RSS (the article also has a great explanation of how RSS works).

Email vs. RSS subscribers for business blogs. Chart from Hubspot.com.

So this means you need to offer readers the option of both email and RSS.

While WordPress has an automatic RSS feed, it isn’t very intuitive for readers to use.  I’ve been using Feedburner on my own blog, which lets you track subscribers and can be integrated into Google Analytics.  When your readers click on the RSS icon, they  can choose how they want to read your blog, including getting new posts right in their Yahoo or Google homepages.  They can also sign up for email  updates right there, and you can have Feedburner handle the distribution.  For free.  Yeah!

4. Make sure you’re using your meta tags & descriptions

A meta tag & description helps  put keywords to your blog and individual posts so people can find your information when using a search engine.  The meta description is your calling card.  Here’s mine:

How Fine Point Writing's Meta Description works in a search engine

My meta description says, “Improving business blog effectiveness through search engine optimization, keyword research, and good, clear writing.”

If I didn’t have the meta description in there, Google would show any old text it chose from my blog.  This way, I control the very first message people see to encourage them to click on my blog.

Thesis has a form for these meta tags and descriptions for each page, post, and overall for the blog.  Super easy and handy.

I investigated how to add meta information in Blogger, and gave it an hour or so of my time before giving up — it takes HTML coding that I could not get to work.  If your blog is in WordPress, there are many plugins that help create meta tags and descriptions for your blog.  I just installed one; I’ll let you know how it works out!

5) Track your results

You won’t know if your blog is doing well unless you track it.  Google Analytics is free and easy to use, and Feedburner automatically tracks your subscribers and even if they read your posts.

Tracking software also lets you see how people find you: what sites they found you on, what they searched for.  This information is invaluable for tweaking your blog to continuously improve its effectiveness.

Make these changes to get your business blog started on the right foot.  These took me a couple of weekends to figure out; the 2nd time I did it, it took me less than an hour.  Once the basics are done, you can focus on the part that matters to readers: content that matters, answers their questions, and speaks to your target.

What tips or plugins have you used to improve your business blog?